Chapter 14: The Nether Scroll
Jaheira was tired of this. For two days now they hadn't done anything, she hadn't seen Anni at all and only had a few glimpses of Edwin. Though Jaheira loathed this inactivity she was not about to begrudge the girl this time. She knew that they had work to do but this time was necessary in her opinion, Anni had no attachments to anyone besides Imoen and ever since their escape from Irenicus, she wouldn't talk to Jaheira anymore.
In fact she had been noticing that the girl would move away from any women that came near her. Anni never met her eyes any more and didn't talk to her either. If she didn't know any better she would suspect the girl was scared of her.
"She couldn't possibly blame herself for what happened, could she?" She mused out loud. She could see this possibly happening, Anni had a habit of blaming everything on herself, trying to take everyone's pain away. Some days Jaheira had an urge to resurrect Gorion and slap him upside the head for not teaching either of those girls any sense.
"What can those two be doing all this time!" As soon as she said that, she realized she really didn't want to know. After all what would her and Khalid do if they were locked in a room for two days together...
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"Ahh HA! I understand it! (Hmm... ancient magic at my fingertips, and more yet to decipher. Though I do understand enough now to cast it.)" Edwin's cry of triumph woke Anni from her sleep. She lifted her head from the pillow to glare at him from across the room. He sat with his back to her, dressed in his newer robes, since his old ones were beyond repair.
Earlier that night he had moved the small writing desk over to the other side of the room, where she couldn't spy on his translations from the bed or where he couldn't see her, since she kept distracting him. Wrapping the sheet around herself, she walked over to him to stare at the Nether Scroll and him.
"So are you going to explain it to me?" She asked with a small smile, knowing without a doubt he wouldn't. Without sparing her a glance he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her down to sit on his lap. He continued to ignore her, except for the possessive arm holding her in place, and concentrated on his scroll.
"Another revelation in my... er... our Nether Scroll. A spell of transformation, both basic and sophisticated. It is not unlike the transformation of mage to lich... but it must be more... much more... I've prepared for this moment all my life, and lifetimes before! Be prepared to cower and flee! Nothing will stand in my way after this!" His eyes had take on that look, the one that meant he wasn't going to wait a second more to do something.
"Right." She rolled her eyes, he was too much when he was this excited. "And I'm supposing that you want to cast that right this minute, in the dead of the night?"
"Yes now, I've waited far too long." Anni didn't mention the fact he had just finished translating it.
"Ok, let me get dressed and get my med kit, just in case." She went to get her clothes but he didn't remove him arm, keeping her trapped. "Um..Edwin, you have to let me go you know." He was staring off into space with that look that plainly stated he was plotting something. -Probably world domination or something of the ilk.- She couldn't help smiling, he was adorable at times like this. - Just don't tell him or he'll throw a fit of how Red Wizards are not adorable or cute, they are fearsome. Note to self: Don't dissolve into giggles then next time he says that.-
She waited for him to move his arm but he was once again caught up in the scroll again. She leaned her head against his shoulder and started to lay small kisses across his neck. Around the fifth kiss Edwin turned his head and stared at her.
"You are trying to distract me again. (I must not let on how good she is at it. No good would come of it. Most likely she would permanently keep me distracted if I let her.)"
"Is it working?"
"No. Your attempt is paltry at best. I will show you the proper way to distract someone. (Though if you ever distract someone other than myself, they will find themselves on the receiving end of a fireball)."
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"Well, I must say, you are much better than I am at distracts, Edwin." She sighed with pleasure as his hands moved through her hair. She wouldn't have thought that Edwin would know how to braid hair, but he did and was currently fixing hers. She had finally gotten dressed, though not in her usual robes, at his insistence, she had put on the clothes that Simon had made for her.
The pants were a black leather type material that were so tight on her that she could feel the lightest brush of his fingers, the boots he had so lovingly laced, came half way up her thighs and to complete the outfit she wore her black fishnet shirt. To say that Edwin liked her clothing was a vast understatement.
"Of course, Edwin Odesseiron is a master at whatever venture he sets out for." He continued to fix her hair. "You are never cutting your hair." Anni smiled at that. Maybe from someone else it would have sounded like a question but from him it was an order.
"I remember the reason I turned to spell casting was just so I could keep my hair long, Gatewarden always told me I could never fight with hair as long as mine." She turned and laid a kiss on his lips as he finished. "Trust me, the day I lose my soul is the day I cut my hair." She hopped off the bed and picked up her med pack, she groaned when she cast a look over her shoulder and found that his gaze was glued to her posterior. She walked over to the door and right before she exited she smiled as she said, "Oh and by the way if you mess up this spell, I am so going to write to your Teacher Dekaras and tell him all about it."
Edwin chuckled as the door closed, knowing she wouldn't dare. He stopped laughing suddenly, she really wouldn't, would she? Just in case before he left he placed his letters from home in the inner pocket of his robes, there was no way she was getting her paws on the letters.
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They walked hand in hand towards the city gates. It had been Anni's idea to cast the spell outside the city. Even though they had a licence to practice magic now, neither of them trusted the Cowled Wizards to keep their word and not arrest them.
The two of them had managed to get out of the inn without running into one of their companions, if he didn't know better he would think that she wasn't ready to be seen with him by them. Of course not many people would be capable to handle the idea of a wizard of his magnitude involved with, in his most humble (and not to mention correct) opinion, the smartest (second to his mind of course) and the most beautiful Bhaalspawn known on Toril.
Edwin stopped suddenly as he viewed the person who was coming through the city's gates. -Dammit how did he find me here!?- Edwin's eyes darted around looking for a quick escape but saw none that wouldn't draw the man's attention. Normally Edwin wouldn't have dreamed of avoiding Degardan, the pompous wizard was second on his list, right after Elminster, but with Anni in tow, he wouldn't take the risk something would happen to her.
"Ed-?" She started as he pushed her into the shadows and covered her lips with his own. Only the outline of his body could be seen, though he made sure that it was obvious that Anni was female. The last time Degardan had seen him, his tastes in... companions had been very different. If her form hadn't been enough to convince a person that she was female, the small whimpers that she made would. He could feel Degardan's gaze pass over him and knew when the wizard as gone.
When he pulled away from Anni, his first thought was to follow Degardan and be rid of him this instance. -No, first the Nether Scroll. Then, we will see who has the last laugh! It will most assuredly be I.- He felt her hand in his and turned back to her.
"What's wrong, who was that?"
"Nothing worthy of your concern. (Bah, he is barely worthy of mine!)" She raised up and placed a light kiss on his cheek.
"Ok, I'll trust you on this.(Though you better be telling me the truth.)" Anni blinked. "Ack! It's wearing off on me!"
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Anni bit her lip as she stared at the scroll Edwin was holding, for not the first time this night. The scroll made her head hurt when she stared at it longer than a minute or two. This worried her mainly because she couldn't check Edwin's translations. - What if this scroll does something horrible, like turn him in a rabbit or a dragon...Wait a dragon wouldn't be that bad. I'd finally have a pet then.-
"Are you sure about this? What if something goes wrong?" She felt him kiss the top of her head as he took the scroll away from her.
"Everything will go exactly as I wish it to." She bit her lip at his words and started to walk away. "Where are you going?"
"Edwin I'll be way over here while you cast that." She took off and stopped a good distance away. She ran he swore he could hear her mutter, "Better part of valor!". She watched as Edwin stuck a dramatic pose and had to clamp her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing at him. She caught some of the words he spoke as the drifted towards her on the wind that was steadily increasing. She was blinded as light exploded from the scroll and she could hear him yell. When she could see again she rushed over to him. "What happened?! Are you alright?"
"This is bad. This is very very bad." She frowned listening to him, his voice was different higher than usual. She placed her hand on Edwin's arm trying to get him to face her but he wouldn't move.
"Edwin, look at me, it can't be that bad." Her eyes widened as she gazed at him. Her brain stuck between the urge to laugh herself silly and fainting. Her brain finally blew a fuse and she fainted.